Thieves of Honor and Love
by EmberFalcon
Summary: This will be the last of the Finding My Love trilogy. Summary: Carmelita has been a Master Thief along with Sly and the Gang...however, when their biggest heist ever goes horribly wrong, what will happen? I will not tell! R & R!
1. Chapter 1

I'm back, everyone! This is the final chapter in the 'Finding My Love' series…not that I won't still write FanFics, 'cause I will! Anyway, it's been two years since End of the Search. Carmelita is now a Master Thief along with Sly and the gang, but when the biggest heist they ever attempted goes horribly wrong…what happens? I will not tell!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper or related characters. Artemis is me, and I guess I own myself…I think.

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_What makes us who we become? What steers our destiny towards one path instead of another? Why is it we strive to live and breathe in freedom instead of slavery? What is the difference if we all are mere slaves to the tainted laws of our country? Are we free? Will we ever get to taste actual freedom? No longer bound by limits or restrictions? Is there a way to live safely and peacefully yet at the same time, no longer be bound by the chains of Law? I have tried to come up with a solution for freeing ourselves from the darkness of tainted justice, yet come up with nothing. I have searched far and wide but to no avail. I suppose we will all die without ever tasting real, true freedom._

Carmelita gingerly shut the ancient book, shaking her head. Those were dark times when Otto Van Cooper was around. She looked over at her boyfriend of two years, Sly Cooper, hoping there was a further explanation of why Otto yearned for something he had lost by becoming a thief. Sly was quiet…lost in thought. He knew why Otto Van Cooper was saying this, he just wondered how he was going to tell his love.

"Sly, run this by me again…what does this have to do with the heist you, Bentley and I have been planning?" He looked up into her troubled eyes. He could tell she was slowly piecing this all together. He started the explanation, but found he was at a loss of words. Figuring she knew how to word it better, he turned to Artemis, who had also been helping with the planning of the heist. Artemis looked up at first to Carmelita, then to Sly, then back down to the floor.

"Well…Carm…before I tell you why we're studying this for the heist, I have to tell you why Otto Van Cooper wrote this certain caption in the Thievius Raccoonus. After I tell you that…I think you'll understand better. Okay?" Carmelita nodded. They were all sitting on the floor in a triangle by the fireplace with the Thievius Raccoonus in the center. Artemis took a deep breath and watched as Carmelita understood more and more as the story unfolded…

"It's like this: Way back in 1416, during the War of the Roses, Otto Van Cooper was secretly helping the Lancastrians by stowing away on a Yorkists' ship as it sailed to England. Now, as I'm sure you're aware, The Lancastrians were the French, but Otto was English. This was why they chose him. He could blend in well due to his background. Once the ship reached England, he began to spy on the Rose Crusaders, which was the Yorkists' army at the time. He would send his most trusted friend in England, Yuria Smith, who is related to Bentley in case you didn't already know, back to France with any intelligence on the Rose Crusaders' plans of attack. However, on her final trip back from France, Yuria was captured and tortured until she ratted Otto out. She wasn't a back stabber, so she sent warning to Otto that the Yorkists were coming for him. He salvaged a boat and escaped to France, telling Prince Henry Tudor everything he had learned before he was discovered. The Lancastrians got lucky. Because of Otto's spying, they managed to hold off Yorkists' troops. Otto, however was badly injured in the fight. Yuria took care of him as best she could, but it wasn't enough. In his last will he told Yuria to bury all his worldly possessions in England, on the property where their childhood orphanage once stood, as his last request to her."

Carmelita nodded, thinking she knew where this was going. She understood that, should anything that ever belonged to a Cooper get into the wrong hands, the results would be catastrophic. Every member of the Cooper Clan in every generation had sworn on the night they received the Thievius Raccoonus that they would defend the Cooper heirlooms with their own lives, as did Sly before his father was killed.

"So, you're saying we need to go to England and get Otto's stuff before someone else does…am I right?" Sly shook his head.

"Wish it were that simple. Otto's last will was the only recorded document that ever suggested he ever even owned anything of worth…however…recent studies of his documents have shown he did in fact own very valuable things that could very well help any person…good or bad…achieve virtually anything. From robbery to murder…provided they were creative enough, the sky's the limit." He said. Carmelita rubbed her chin in thought for a moment.

"If it's not in England, where is it?" Sly was quick to answer,

"We aren't sure. Bentley managed to find where it **_was_** buried…but after Art and I did a little recon, we discovered that someone else beat us to the punch." Carmelita's eyes grew wide in horror. She had seen what had happened when a bad guy got hold of a Cooper heirloom, and it wasn't pretty.

"We have, however, pin pointed their location. This gang, or should I say… "The Darkness"…don't ask me. You should see the crappy names some of these criminals come up with." He turned to Artemis.

"And you thought "The Cooper Gang" sucked!" She shrugged, then picked up where Sly left off.

"The Darkness was last seen in the Czech Republic, if Bentley used his computer right." She looked over at Bentley, who had just come downstairs. Murray moaned from his seat on the chair.

"Does that mean we have to go to Prague again?" Artemis shook her head.

"Last known sightings were in the Czechian Underworlds. Don't worry about it, Bentley. They only call it that because it's the most barren place in the Czech Republic. There isn't any underground work involved." Bentley, claustrophobic as he was, breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his normal shade of green.

"Well, now that we know where they are, I suggest we start building a game plan." He said, re-adjusting his glasses. Artemis shook her head.

"Not quite yet. I've been to the Czechian Underworld before, but I'm not entirely familiar to this certain spot of it. Sly, Carmelita and I will have to split up around the area and do a little recon work so we know what to expect. Gee, and I thought _you_ were the genius around here!" Bentley had to giver her that one.

"Okay. First thing tomorrow we'll set out for the Czech Republic. Given the distance between there and Paris, the time radius as about a…6 to 7 hour van ride there. It should be pretty dark by the time we get there."

"That's nice and all, but we need the cover of night to protect us. If we show up and it's still daylight out, then we'll just have to lay low." Sly concluded. Everyone agreed and said goodnight. Artemis went into her room down in the basement, Bentley and Murray went upstairs into their separate rooms, but Sly and Carmelita stayed in the living room. Carmelita sat down on the couch as Sly put away the Thievius Raccoonus as well as their plans and blueprints. He walked over and sat beside her, watching the shadows the fire cast dance across her lovely face. She noticed him doing that and smiled.

"Just can't keep your eyes off me, now can you?" She said teasingly, wrapping her arms around his neck. He smiled along with her.

"Hey, it's not my fault God made you so beautiful!" He said innocently as if he were a little kid getting caught doing something bad. She laughed, then yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder. He rested his hands on her hips gently, bringing her closer to him. She closed her eyes, her head relaxing even more on his shoulder. He said jokingly,

"Come on, Carmelita. Last time you did that my shoulder fell asleep!" She laughed, kissing him softly. Sliding her lips away from his, she said goodnight, turned and went up into her room upstairs. As soon as he heard her door click shut, Sly leaped up and walked over to a picture of the gang and himself. Smiling, he lifted the frame off the wall and turned it over so the back faced him. His eyes swept the back until he spotted the tiny square door he had put there. Opening it, he took out a beautiful gold ring with a diamond on its center. Eyeing it, he began to think out loud, but not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Carmelita Montoya Fox…I love you so much…but how can I ask you to marry me without screwing up?"

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Well, that's chappie 1. If you don't like the way my writing is, I'm open for any suggestions in your reviews. See ya at chappie 2!


	2. Don't mess with the Frappuchino!

Hello! Now you know what they are doing, where they are going, and why they are doing what they are doing, you can now see this chappie. This chapter will focus mainly on what Sly, Carmelita, Artemis, Nick and Murray discover while on recon. Bentley will be in this chapter, only he's hiding out in the van with his laptop. You will see, my padawans…you will see… here's the chappie!

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Artemis woke up earlier than everyone else the next morning. She stole a glance at the clock. 6:22 a.m. She swung her legs over and stood up, heading over to her closet to change into her thieving gear. She slid on a navy blue mini skirt and a top that stopped just above her belly button that was also navy blue. It had cap sleeves, so as not to get them caught on anything during the heist. She slid on her black choker band with a tiny metal oval on it. To most, it just looked like a cute pendant, but to her, it was her binocucom. She grinned, seeing as how she had updated it and made… "modifications" to it since Bentley gave it to her. She then proceeded to slide on a pair of navy blue boots that stopped just below her knees. If you're having a little difficulty imagining her outfit, think of it as Starfire's outfit on Teen Titans, only navy blue. She brushed her long and newly dyed raven hair and pulled it up into a ponytail, but left one single strip hang in front of her face. This single strip was dyed orange, which she herself had planned to look exactly the way it turned out.

She silently made her way downstairs, carefully listening for any noises that expressed any signs of arousing from any of the rooms. She walked into the living room, and was rather surprised to see Sly fast asleep with a G4 magazine over his head. Laughing softly, so as not to wake him up, she took the magazine off his head and replaced it with a Computer Nerd Weekly magazine (Bentley's, in case you hadn't figured it out).

"That's what you get for taking **my** mag!" She whispered to the still sleeping raccoon. She tip toed into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, taking out her favorite Starbucks Mint Mocha Frappuchino. She made her way back to her room and grabbed her laptop (okay, so I don't have a laptop. Give me a break here!) and went back in the kitchen.

Sipping her Frappuchino, she logged on and checked her buddy list. Surprisingly enough, Nick was online (Yeah. Like he's ever online). She Instant Messaged him.

EmberFalcon: Why hello there! Yousa online _this early_?

NickDude: Ha ha ha. How are S & C going?

EmberFalcon: I'm surprised C's last name is still Fox

NickDude: They're that tight, huh?

EmberFalcon: That's an understatement my friend.

NickDude: Wow.

EmberFalcon: Yeah.

NickDude: you think we'll ever be like that?

EmberFalcon: DUDE?

NickDude: It'd be nice…

EmberFalcon: Okay, I'll give you that one. It would be nice.

NickDude: You think so? You doing anything tonight?

EmberFalcon: B's got another one planned

NickDude: Can I come?

EmberFalcon: No.

NickDude: Please?

EmberFalcon: No.

NickDude: Please?

EmberFalcon: No.

NickDude: Please?

EmberFalcon: No.

NickDude: PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASE?

EmberFalcon: Well…

NickDude: …?

EmberFalcon: When B gets up I'll talk to him about it. There's a good chance he'll say yeah.

NickDude: YEAH!

EmberFalcon: brb. Someone's finally waking up.

NickDude: k.

Artemis turned and saw a very tired looking Bentley trudge in the kitchen and pour himself a glass of orange juice. She smiled warmly.

"Can Nick come on the heist? He's a Master Thief with us, too ya know." Bentley rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well…alright. Tell him…"

"YAY! Thanks!" She turned back to the computer, typing like crazy.

EmberFalcon: B says to get your butt over here.

NickDude: SWEET! I'm coming! I love you!

EmberFalcon: Huh?

NickDude: Uhh… .. … that slipped. It's a typo… .. …uhh see you!

Artemis sighed, and now that last message got her thinking, and that don't really happen often. Now she wondered if he really did love her…

"Is he coming?"

Bentley broke her trace of thought, which brought her back into reality. She turned and nodded, shutting down the computer and closing her laptop. She downed the last of her Frappuchino and tossed it skillfully into the trashcan.

"Ten points!"

Both Bentley and Artemis were surprised to see Sly standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was leaning casually against the side, his arms crossed, trying to look all cool and everything.

"By the way, nice of you to give me Bentley's mag. Very touching!" He said playfully as he tossed it onto the counter. He walked over and opened the fridge, taking out one of Artemis' Mint Mocha Frappuchinos (Oh NO he didn't!). Artemis instantly flicked out her hand skillfully towards the frappuchino. Instantly, the drink whizzed out of Sly's hand and into her own. His eyes grew wide.

"What was that for?" He asked. Artemis brought the Frappuchino protectively to herself in a hug, giving him a playful child's face that clearly said she wasn't going to share with him.

"My mint mocha! You get the crappy coffee ones!" She said in a squeaky kid voice to match her expression. He laughed as Carmelita walked out looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.

(Carmelita: IT'S NOT BUSHY! IT'S FLUFFY!)

She smiled and said good morning to Artemis and Bentley, then walked over to Sly and kissed him. Bentley looked over to Artemis, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Ding…dong.

"Ohhh! Nick must be here! I GOT IT!" Artemis teleported herself into the hallway leading to the "front door" of the hideout. She lifted the eyepiece thingy and looked into it by squinting one eye. She opened the door for Nick.

"Gee, I haven't heard from you in a whole…ten minutes." Artemis said, pausing to count with her fingers. Nick laughed and hugged her, which made Artemis blush a dark red. They walked back into the kitchen and were confronted by the already pumped "The Murray".

"Hello! Now that Nick is here, Bentley said he'll review the plans!" He exclaimed happily as everyone crowded around Bentley at the kitchen table.

"Now, since Nick is here, I think we'll have to slightly re-construct some of the plan…" Artemis cut him off.

"No we won't. Nick can just buddy up with me during recon." Bentley nodded, accepting this new idea.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's review one last time." He pulled out two large bright blue…well…blueprints and laid them out on the table.

"Now, Carm and Sly will have to take Section 242 located on the North side of the base." He pointed to the upper half of the divided blueprint of "The Darkness" hideout. He then trailed his finger to the bottom of the divide.

"This is where Art and Nick will take recon, in section 438. Sly and Carm, I want you to take photos of some of the guard posts and video record their patrol patterns so that I can find a weak spot. Art, Nick, you need to sneak around and snap pics of Damian, "The Darkness" leader. Also, get a few shots of what we came for: Otto Van Cooper's belongings. Now, they might not have them here, and I'll be providing computer support, so I'll know judging by the photos. If that's the case, Art, you added a recorder in your binocucom, right?"

"Voice and Video."

"Excellent! If they DON'T have it there, snoop around until you find out where it IS being kept." Bentley ordered as he gathered up the rest of the papers and placed them neatly in his laptop as he shut it.

"Now, if there aren't any further questions, I say we hit the road!" Everyone agreed, piling in the van. Artemis and Nick sat next to each other on one side in the back, while Sly and Carm sat opposite them. Murray drove and Bentley sat passenger.

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Czechian Underworld (8:36 p.m.)

Murray skillfully drove the van deeper and deeper into the night, careful to keep the headlights bright enough where they can see where they're heading, yet without drawing too much attention to themselves. He swerved left and came to a careful stop in a thicket of bushes and trees. Bentley pulled out his maps and plans again and laid them out on the floor in the back.

"Okay, I have everything set back here. Good luck you guys, this could get real ugly real quick." He said in a low voice, almost a whisper. Generally, when you're risking your butt like this, you don't make any real audible noises. Everyone but Bentley got out of the van and met in a circle.

"Okay, everyone got their GPS tracking chip activated on their binocucoms?" Artemis asked softly, checking her own. Everyone checked and nodded.

"In case anything should go wrong, whether it be during recon or the heist, I need you guys to promise me something…" Sly said in a low voice. Everyone looked towards him, Carmelita placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, silently urging him to go on. Sly looked at everyone's faces one by one, stopping at Carmelita's.

"Should I get caught, because they are prowling for me, given that I'm a Cooper, and all…anyway, if I get caught, promise me _none_ of you will try to help me." Murray gasped.

"We can't promise that!" He hissed in a frantic whisper. Sly gave him a long, determined look.

"_Promise_ me you guys." He urged. Everyone looked at each other for a while before Artemis spoke for everyone.

"Alright, under protest…we promise." She said in a defeated voice. Without anyone saying anything more, they split up into their groups (Or in Murray's case, alone) and headed for their assigned sections.

Sly leaped from a tree branch and landed skillfully on a nearby roof while Carmelita crept silently behind him as she climbed a drainpipe on the rooftop opposite Sly. They looked at each other and silently said good luck. Parting ways, they got down to work.

Carmelita ran quietly across the rooftop and slid down a rope across to the next. She spotted one of the guard's scouting towers, so she pulled out her binocucom and brought it to her eyes. She let her vision get used to the lenses and zoomed in on the tower itself, which was about ten yards away, and snapped a picture of it. She winced, as there was slight static in her ear as she saw Bentley's face appear in the lower right hand corner of her screened vision.

"Okay, that's one of the main patrol towers. You'd better not go any closer to it than about…three yards, or else you'll get detected by the motion sensors they established."

"10-4 little buddy. Carmelita out." She said, slipping her binocucom back into her belt. She allowed her eyes to sweep her surroundings. She was by the center of section 242. There were two other main patrol posts by the entryway, but they weren't close enough for her to be detected. Her thoughts and concentration were disturbed as she received a message on her binocucom. She slid it out and brought it to her eyes once more, opening the link.

"You guys won't believe this. I just found the _exact_ location of Otto's stuff!" Bentley said as Carmelita saw everyone's faces in separate screens. She saw Sly's face light up.

"Where, Ben? I'm on it!" He said as he swept his binocucom to the left and right to make sure no one was close enough for him to be detected.

"Afraid it's not that simple. Everyone come back to the van. I've got enough recon photos to suffice." Everyone's faces disappeared as the link was shut down. Sly stashed his binocucom into his leg pouch and made his way back to the van, wondering what kind of battle plan Bentley could have possibly come up with on the fly.

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Okay, so there's the recon. As you continue to read, you'll notice things will start to go downhill from here…but I won't spoil it for you. R & R please!


	3. Da Plan tee hee

Sorry! It's been AGES! Now…where did we leave off…? Aha! Okay, here we go with chappie 3!

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Bentley leaned back against the computer chair in the van, a satisfied smile spread across his face. He had an absolutely _flawless_ plan conjured in that abnormally sized head of his. Now all he needed was for everyone to regroup at the van so he could put it into action. He jumped a little when he heard a soft thump on the team van's roof, but relaxed as Sly emerged through the van's back doors.

"Anyone beat me here?" He smiled as he shut the van doors and sat next to his turtle friend. The turtle genius grinned and shook his head. Within a few minutes Artemis and Nick popped the doors open and climbed in. Carmelita followed, then Murray right behind her. Once everyone was present, Bentley cleared his throat and began.

"Now, as you might know, we had in fact thought recon was necessary, and in a sense, it was. But while you guys were gathering recon photos, I managed to hack into The Darkness' mainframe and get an entire digital layout of their HQ and the security." He turned to his computer and began typing furiously until the screen flashed white and showed in a blue background the whole HQ. Everyone crowded around the computer behind Bentley's chair and watched as he brought the camera angle to rest on a certain spot that looked like it was near the towers Carmelita had taken a picture of during recon. Bentley then brought the camera angle to zoom in on what looked like a tiny chamber with (and no exaggerations, mind you) security tighter than Alcatraz. He turned to the tiny table he had set up that had his blueprints sprawled all across its surface.

"Now, that chamber you saw, as I'm sure you all guessed, was the hiding place for Otto Van Cooper's possessions." He brought out a silver marker and circled the chamber on the blueprint.

"Unfortunately, the security is unbelievably tight, but we can pull this off with a plan I like to call…THE BAIT AND RUN!" He exclaimed like he was some television announcer. Everyone blinked and stared at him like he needed to go into a mental clinic or something (brings back memories of Contessa…shivers). He sobered instantly and spoke in such a grave voice everyone couldn't help but get shivers up their spines.

"However, this plan isn't as easy as its title makes it out to be. There will be two groups: Sly, Murray, and Nick, who will be the distraction and defense team, and Artemis and Carmelita, who will haul the loot. You five need to work in _perfect_ harmony, or else we could wind up leaving with much less than what we came with." Everyone's faces turned a few shades paler. Carmelita clung to Sly's arm seeking comfort. Murray bit his fingernails in an attempt to pacify his now chattering teeth. Artemis and Nick exchanged a horrified glance at each other, but no one dared to speak. Silence ensued uncomfortably, each member of the team thinking of what could go horribly wrong with so much as one false move in the whole operation. Bentley broke the silence by clearing his throat and continuing with the briefing.

"Now, here's the plan: Sly, you will have to crawl through an air vent on the northwest side of the east tower that will lead to the main power control center for all four of the towers. Once you're in, splice the security around each terminal so I can hack through the servers from here." Sly nodded solemnly, mentally calculating his every move from here to the tower. Bentley continued,

"Murray and Nick will wait for my signal after I hack into the servers and shut down the tower security. Once that signal is given, you two _must_ be in disguise dressed as security. Go into the main security gate that leads into sector VX-77, which is the sector that the goods are in. Wait right outside the doors to the chamber, lest there be any more guards than there already are patrolling the area." Nick and Murray nodded and began to gather the needed items for their disguises and get suited up.

"Now for the crucial part: The Haul. Carmelita and Artemis will climb up to the roof of the chamber and search for the hatch that leads into the chamber's upper quadrant. Make our way down to the bottom quadrant so that Artemis can begin her mojo mastery. Sly, you must rendezvous with Nick and Murray to help with the loot haul. When all five of you are in position, I'll bring the van- Oh come on now, Murray! I've shown my skills with the stick shift!" Murray shifted uncomfortably in his spot at the thought of someone driving his baby. Bentley rolled his eyes behind his spectacles and continued.

"I'll bring the van in the back of the chamber. Once I'm ready, I'll open the van's back doors so that we can begin the loot haul. But be warned, once we so much as touch that loot with a pinky, the guards will be all over us. That's why Murray, Sly and Nick are the distract and defense team: Keep the guards AWAY from Artemis and Carmelita until the loot is secure. Once it is, we jump in the van and get the hell outta Dodge. Everyone got all that?" Everyone nodded simultaneously. Artemis breathed in and out, getting the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong and that, as Bentley put it, they weren't leaving with all that they had at this moment.

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I apologize for it taking so long for me to update. I had a bunch of schoolwork, and not to mention I had to upload my e-mail and everything to my new computer, that and I've just finished an Inuyasha fan fic (Mortal Feelings, if anyone wants to check it out) but I'll definitely be updating more often. R & R!


	4. The Beginning of a Failure

While I was off of FanFiction, I finished Sly 3 (In one Saturday and still had time to go see a movie, thank you very much!) and couldn't help but grin at the end. Just by looking at the whole perspective, you can tell that Sucker Punch is considering a fourth Sly Cooper installment. Just like Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter. Ah well. Here's chappie four!

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Artemis crouched beside Carmelita atop the chamber, awaiting Sly's signal for go time. Carmelita watched Artemis clench and unclench her fists in an attempt to shake off Bentley's words, which had haunted each team member since their departure. Carmelita leaned to the side of Artemis's head and whispered in her ear,

"Relax. You know how Bentley exaggerates all the time." Artemis nodded, but turned and whispered back.

"True, but with all this security, and my family's past run-ins with The Darkness, I'm beginning to think Bentley had a point: We either work together with exact precision, or we leave with more space in the van." With that, Artemis tensed and began to concentrate on waiting for the signal. Carmelita also stopped and took the shift of lookout, horrible images popping into her head of something happening to her friends…or…

"Art, head inside with Carm and begin working your magic on the defenses. Bentley will hack the terminals and then we're all clear for the loot haul." Artemis tapped her necklace binocucom with her finger lightly.

"10-4. Descending, Art out." Artemis tapped Carmelita on the shoulder with a big grin on her face.

"Showtime."

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Sly slid across the security wires linking the towers together and jumped to the left sharply as a spotlight swerved in his direction. He ducked beside the air vent and held his breath, cold sweat drenching his forehead. Relief swept over him as the spotlight swooped over to the right and continued patrol. He popped the vent cover off and crawled inside. He opened the link connecting his binocucom and Bentley's computer.

"Bentley, I'm in the air vent. How 'bout a little help with the directions?" There was a tiny crackle, then Bentley's nasally voice replied calmly through the other end of the line.

"Sure thing: go straight, first fork is left, next three forks are right, last fork is straight. You get all that? Left, Right, Right, Right, Straight."

"Thanks pal, Sly out." He shut down the link and began crawling through the vent. _'Good thing Bentley's not here. Claustrophobia would settle in real quick on that poor guy.'_ He found the first fork and went left, continuing down the dark ventilation system. He made the three rights, then continued straight until he came to the other end of the vent. He slid through and hopped atop a chandelier, looking for the four terminals.

"Bentley, I made it through the vent, but where are the terminals you wanted me to splice the security on?"

"These aren't ordinary terminals. You have to promise me you WON'T laugh at where I'm about to tell you they are."

"Come on, We've seen some pretty unexplainable things throughout the years, what could surprise me now?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you'll have to shove your hand up the ass of each of those horses"?" Sly flipped backwards and looked at the two statues of knights on horseback that were about seven feet tall each.

"You _can't_ be serious."

"Trust me, these people aren't exactly known for their sanity." _'I'd have never guessed, Bentley.'_ He jumped on one of the horse's tails that seemed to be flowing in a nonexistent wind and looked at…oh god, do I really have to say it! That's it, I'm just skipping that part, we're fast forwarding to AFTER he does…shivers.

"Bentley, you'll never let me live that down, will you?" He could just see his little turtle friend now, grinning like an absolute fool. That little "experience" was something he wouldn't mind just forgetting, but not Bentley! Oh nooo!

"Me? Let you live something THAT disgusting down? I would never!" He rolled his eyes and left the same way he came in, swiftly pulling out his binocucom and opening the link to Artemis.

"Art, head inside with Carm and begin working your magic on the defenses. Bentley will hack the terminals and then we're all clear for the loot haul." He listened as he heard her voice over the line.

"10-4. Descending, Art out." The link shut down as Artemis shut her end off. He put his binocucom away and made a stealthy dash to rendezvous with Nick and Murray.

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Nick groaned inwardly, wishing he'd paid better attention in the dojo training him and Artemis took, lest guards should accost them and discover they weren't actually friendly. Murray shifted on his feet, nudging Nick (Ha! More like _shoving_) as he saw an entire group of guards coming their way. Murray tensed his muscles as they came closer. Granted, he knew that he was perfectly capable of mowing down the first two rows like fodder, but the guards behind those rows were about twice his size in height and width that looked like they'd been on steroids for years.

"Psst! Murray, Nick, I'm up here!" They both looked up to find Sly perched atop a dead lamppost. They both sighed in relief now that they knew who it was that was calling out to them. The guards were coming even closer now, so close they might be able to see Sly. Both Nick and Murray looked back at the guards and said only loud enough for Sly to hear, "Get on the rooftop where you won't be seen." But it was too late, for the guards had seen Sly atop the two "guards" and were charging at them full throttle. Murray raised his clenched fists at chest level, though he wasn't sure he'd be able to carry the fight if Nick and Sly didn't take out at least 10 guards each.

The guards knocked into the thieves head on, though the battle wasn't lost yet. At least a dozen guards pinned Murray, but he let out a guttural roar as he thrust his fists in the air, energy exploding from his body as the guards went sailing, some of them even managing to knock other guards unconscious. Sly muttered something incoherent as the golden part of his cane began to glow. He swung the cane in a circle around him, sort of putting a barrier around himself. Nick tried for all he was worth, but if only he had paid better attention to the sensei…well…let's just say that Sly and Murray had to watch his six quite a bit. Sly pulled out his binocucom and immediately linked Bentley.

"Bentley, this is Sly. How far are you on those terminals?"

"Almost…THERE! If my calculations are correct-" He was cut off as Artemis pulled a three way link.

"Artemis and Carmelita should be down by Otto Van Cooper's possessions. And that is correct, Math Wiz." The door remained shut from the front, but the others could still hear Artemis and Carmelita putting the stuff in the van. "Doing awesome, just a few more!" Murray yelled over the roar of the fight as he sucker punched a thug that was trying to do some damage to him.

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"Showtime." Carmelita grinned along with her and nodded, both of them sliding down the opening Bentley had mentioned one at a time. They landed on their feet and waited for their eyes to adjust to the absolute darkness that surrounded them.

"So, how tight are these "mojo security forces" anyway?" Carmelita asked as they walked in front of a door that seemed to be giving off a bright blue glow that signified it had a spiritual aura. Artemis sighed and pulled a coin out of her pocket.

"I'll show you." She skillfully flicked the coin at the door. As soon as it touched the door, there was a bright flash as the coin gave off a tiny electric spark and disintegrated into nothing. Carmelita gaped at the door, her jaw found a residence at the floor. Artemis nodded cockily.

"Uh-huh. Now picture that, only your neck. Painful experience, I assure you." She stepped in front of the door, placing her hands on the barrier. The barrier whirred and shot electricity everywhere, but seemed to just disappear within a matter of seconds.

"You gotta teach me how to do that."

"Maybe when you get a little older." They but grinned and made their way downstairs, their eyes widening at the sight before them. All around were detailed blueprints to machinery, strange weapons and an entire arsenal of ammo for each gun, armored biplanes and other vehicles that were disassembled, their parts sprawled about.

"Alright! Let's get to work." She tapped her binocucom necklace.

"Bentley, you there? We're in position for the haul. Bring the van and make some room."

"Rodger, en route to your position."

"You don't think something will happen, do you?" Carmelita asked once Bentley's end of the link was shut down. Artemis shuffled her feet uncomfortably.

"Anything can happen at anytime. I try not to think about it, so that thoughts like that don't get in the way of the operation." This seemed to suffice Carmelita's curiosity, for she went back to getting things ready to move to the van. Artemis watched for a second, thinking, _'I have this horrible feeling, but I can't describe it. What's wrong with me?'_ before she went and helped Carmelita. The sooner they finish the job, the sooner her mind could be put to rest.

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Okay, more action than angst or romance so far, but I warn all of you: this next chapter is NOT for huge Sly fans…it full of angst. I will say no more!


	5. Disappearance

Okay, that last chapter was kinda confusing with the POV switches, so that's going to be changed in this chapter. It will be regular POV switching like I've done with the other stories I have. And, as to the only person that seems to be reading this story anymore: Heiduska (and I apologize if I spelled that wrong!) No there will be no character death…you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough.

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Carmelita cringed at the sound of bodies being flung at the door separating them from that huge fight outside. That door looked like it had it; if someone Murray's size was thrown into that door, then they'd be wide open to attack.

And Carmelita HATED being left wide open.

Artemis stood and tried supporting the door with her magic, but that thing was taking a beating. Her blue aura wouldn't hold up much longer at this rate. They continued to hurriedly put things in the back of the team van as Bentley furiously thought of a plan. Truth be told, he knew that there was no chance of escape with both the loot AND everyone in the van; the weight would slow it down tremendously, and if they were lucky, they might be going…at best…10 mph. Not bad…if you're obeying the law…

But if you're trying to outrun a bunch of psychotic thieves that shove computer terminals up horse statue asses, then you might as well be wearing a bull's eye.

Carmelita was about to grab a particularly heavy piece of machinery, when the door gave a loud groan and finally burst open. Artemis was flung back against the wall, given that she was standing right in front of it. She quickly stood in Akito combat form, but Sly shook his head quickly.

"You do your job, let us do ours." He simply said. Artemis reluctantly nodded at her friend and continued to heave the objects in the back of Murray's van.

"We're doing great! Just a few more-!" Carmelita sighed in relief, but that didn't last long, for a particularly huge thug guard towered over her, raising his arms over his head, holding a fregin' sledgehammer. There was a flash of blue and gold and that thug was biting the dust.

"You okay?" Sly asked while crouching down in front of her, his back facing her. She nodded and thanked him while she grabbed the last piece of machinery and began to put it in the van.

"Sly, Murray, Carmelita! We need you three to stay back while we take these to the safehouse! Once the loot is out of the van, we'll come back for you!" Bentley shouted over the roar of battle. The three said people nodded as the others began to drive away. Spinning, Carmelita round house kicked three thugs in one swipe of her leg, sending them sprawling. Murray fearlessly leapt into the air above about five guards.

"THUNDER FLOP!" He roared as his stomach connected with the guards' heads. All five of them dropped unconscious. Sly brought his cane to a defensive position as he chanted inaudibly. The gold part of his cane began to pulse a gold light as he charged the cane into a group of guards, knocking them back a good yard and a half.

"Sly, Murr, Carm, heading to your position. Jump in fast so we can get the HELL OUTTA DODGE!" Bentley cried from the driver's seat. He spun the van around so that the back was facing the fight. Artemis and Nick each opened one of the back doors hastily.

Sly groaned as he shoved one thug off of his cane. He turned in time to see the van come, and he immediately began to cover Murray and Carmelita, even though he knew that it would take them at least five minutes to get to the van considering the amount of backup the first wave of guards called in. He turned to his lifelong hippo friend, knowing he could get the job done.

"Murray! Get you and Carmelita in the van and go, got it? I'll catch up!" He yelled as the rage of the fight rose to new heights. His friend turned to him in absolute shock.

"Wha-? Sly, we can't just lave you behind! You're like, my brother!" Sly countered that one without hesitation.

"You gave me your word, Murray."

"But-!" He was cut off as Sly knocked another thug away from him.

"GO!" He yelled urgently, not in anger, and Murray knew that. His friend reluctantly jumped in. Carmelita stood there, amidst the whole scene of chaos, and just stared at Sly.

"But Sly I can't just go without you! We're all a team! All of us!"

"I'll be fine! Just go with the others!" Sly said as he shoved another guard across from him. Carmelita got in the van even more reluctantly that Murray as it took off towards the safehouse. About two minutes later, worry overtook the entire gang. Artemis opened the link between Sly's and her binocucoms.

"Sly, where are you!"

"Still…fighting…" He sounded exhausted from the fight, and Artemis could sense his strength leaving him.

"I'll have Murray turn the van around and-"

"No."

"WHAT! You need to get out of there before-!"

"You gave me your word."

"But…"

"Your _word_."

"Does that REALLY MATTER!"

"It was under _Thief's Oath_. Of course it matters."

"YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Maybe…but at least this way…we'll all hold…our honor." There was a static in the line as Sly was cut off…not shut down…CUT OFF.

"Sly? Sly can you hear me? SLY! Sly do you read?" Artemis frantically looked over at Bentley, who was a step ahead of her, on his computer, searching for the GPS tracking chip in Sly's binocucom to activate. All throughout the map, there wasn't even so much as a blip. He gulped nervously.

"That doesn't mean anything. He's still probably in the fight, so he can't respond to the calling. We'll just have to wait." Everyone nodded, but didn't get their hopes up. Murray's fingers twitched nervously on the steering wheel as he waited for the news on his childhood friend. Nick and Bentley refused to look anywhere but the computer screen. Artemis managed to calm Carmelita into a restless sleep after several minutes of tears and silent sobbing. Artemis occasionally threw a glance or two in Nick or Bentley's direction for any signs that they might have found their almost brother, but each glance was met with a disheartening shake of the head. Bentley tried numerous times to send a beacon to Sly.

But the GPS tracking chip in Sly's binocucom never responded.

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I told you serious Sly fans weren't gonna like this chapter. Find out what happens next in chappie 6!


	6. Where am I?

Whew! I know it's been a while since I updated this fic, but I've got four new ones under Inuyasha in the Anime section that I've been busy with as well. Anyway, here's chappie…6…? I think that's about right. Here ya go!

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Darkness…nothing but darkness…

"Do yeh think he's ev'n breath'n, mate?"

"Prob'ly…a' leas' he be'er be, or else our asses are indeed screwed." Wait…those voices…who did they belong to…? A blue gloved hand reached up to cradle a raccoon's head, sliding under a blue cap to rustle a tuft of grey spiky hair.

"Oh look, mate- I think he's come 'round…about time, man."

"Yah, and teh think, we though' ye wasn't be wakin' up."

"Augh…" The raccoon opened his amber eyes groggily, his head pounding with an intensity of which he'd never felt before. His eyes swept slowly over the space around him. Despite his keen eyesight, he could only make out the outlines of his surroundings. From what little he could see, he seemed to be in some kind of chamber, probably underground. Thick iron bars blocked his way out of his cell, which looked about the size of a walk in closet, as far as he could tell. The two that had been mocking him appeared to be an English bull dog and a German Shepard, both of which were standing opposite of where he lay from the bars, taunting him with the luxury of freedom. The raccoon opened his mouth to talk, but his senses shot out of control, as if another presence was in the room.

"Who else is with you two thugs? Something's up-"

"Sly Cooper…" A third voice, a male with a heavy British accent was heard, though the body to whom it belonged was still hidden. The raccoon stood, clenching and unclenching his fists in anticipation for another rumble, his ringed tail swishing mischievously behind him. His eyes darted all over the darkened room, searching for the third person whom had yet to reveal who this shadow was.

"Who's there…DAMN IT SHOW YOURSELF!" Sly's fearless call echoed through the empty room, though he still wondered where in the hell his cane was. The third voice laughed coldly as a shadow glided towards the bars in front of him.

"Once a Cooper, always a Cooper…I must admit, you definitely get your bravery from your father…" The shadowed figure revealed itself as a silver wolf, about 5"8' in height. His figure was lean, but pure muscle. Despite the darkness, a scar upon the wolf's face was evident, just under his left eye, but Sly wasn't interested in his appearance, for his eyes darted to something that the bastard was holding as if it were his own…

The Cooper family cane.

The wolf wasn't surprised at all when the raccoon began to growl venomously, his white teeth showing in the dark.

"You _dare _to wield that weapon…_my family heirloom_…like you fucking own it…like it belongs to you…you sick bastard!" He articulated his insult as best to his ability as he could through his clenched teeth. The wolf simply turned the cane so that the light from the moon shining out the window could roll down its golden point mockingly.

"And just who in the hell are you, that so dared as to disgrace my family's thieving name, pray tell?" At that point, had it not been for the fact that he was in a cell, he would have had the dude in a choke hold and bashed his head against the wall he was so furious with the wolf.

"Damian Amadeus Medora, and as I'm sure you've already guessed, I am your warden." He bowed grandly, angling the cane so that the gold tip was tilted away from his body. Sly wasted no time to pass the opportunity up. He grabbed one bar beside him, using it as an anchor to pull himself toward the bars. He used this driving force as power as he let his other fist swing in between the bars to connect with the wolf's skull…or, so he had planned. Damian was quicker than the raccoon had given him credit for. In one swift movement, he slid to the left enough to feel the air of the blow brush past his face before he grabbed Sly's wrist and yanked him to the bars forcefully. The side of Sly's face met the three inch thick poles with a sickening WHACK.

Sly staggered backwards a few steps, shaking his head slightly to clear it of the daze he was temporarily put in.

"A thick skull…you truly are your father's son."

SUSHI! cool dividers rule 

Carmelita was a bit worried…okay, that ain't right…

**Delete**

Carmelita was worried out of her mind…no, no, no that's not right, either!

**Bangs head on desk**

Carmelita was lost hopelessly in a state of worry and depression.

She was in a state in which you find yourself wondering why things had to be like this. The broken vixen sighed shakily, her tear filled deep brown eyes shimmering even in the dim moonlight that streamed through her window. Bentley had spent the entire van ride back to the safehouse and half the night trying to get Sly's binocucom to respond to his beacons, but there hadn't been a reply in hours. Though they hadn't given up on their silent agreement to find their friend, Bentley said that the best thing they could do was to wait until they could get the rest of the group back together and plan another venture to The Darkness' lair- Penelope had received a call from Holland asking her to return a favor that she owed a friend there about a week ago, around the same time the Guru had taken to meditation a few miles south of Paris, and Artemis's other best friends, Nina and Suzuna were visiting their families back in the U.S. and would return around the same as everyone else tomorrow.

Carmelita sat on her windowsill with her knees bent enough so that her feet were resting on the sill as well. Her gaze was set upon the full moon that lit the darkened skylines of the Czechian Underworld. She sighed shakily, raising a hand to brush away the tears that threatened her eyes.

It was her fault.

Sly was captured because he chose to stay behind and protect her.

This was all her own damn fault.

A gentle knock on her door broke her train of thought. She tore her gaze from the shimmering moon through the window to the door. She tried gathering herself, or at least, gathering her voice together.

"Who is it?" She asked in a voice she almost swore was not her own. The door remained shut, but she still heard a female respond to her question.

"It's me- it's Artemis…can I come in?"

"Oh…yeah, sure…come on in." Carmelita's gaze returned to her window. She heard her door open with a tiny creaking, and then shut almost as silently as it had opened. Her ears swiveled toward the soft sound of footsteps advancing on her before she saw Artemis's faint reflection on the glass beside her own.

Carmelita watched with dim eyes as Artemis sat across from her on the sill, following the vixen's gaze out the window. A comfortable silence ensued between the two for a few moments until Artemis decided to break the silence.

"You wanna talk about anything?" Had the situation not been so depressing, Carmelita would have smiled at her friend's comfort, but her heart wouldn't be into the smile; it would be like putting on a mask to hide herself from her best friend. She didn't want to do that, not to Artemis, or any of her other friends. So, she sighed lightly before running a hand lazily through her wavy raven bangs.

"Do you mind if I go on a crying marathon?" Her voice was crackling as she tried her hardest to keep her tears from spilling out of her pained eyes, but her vision was blurring rather quickly. Artemis turned so that she was fully facing the window, though her gaze never left the broken woman before her.

"Use my shoulder if you want." It was an invitation that the vixen couldn't help but accept. She gently but quickly rested her head on Artemis's shoulder just before tears began to escape from under her heavy eyelids. Artemis placed a hand on Carmelita's back as a sisterly sign to offer her what little comfort she could.

"It's alright…everything will work out fine…I promise…" Artemis cooed to her friend, and almost sister, trying her very hardest to comfort her in any way possible. Using her free hand, she reached over and gingerly picked up a mug of warm tea she had brought for Carmelita. She tapped Carmelita on the shoulder with her pinky so she wouldn't drop the ceramic blue mug. Carmelita lifted her head enough so that she could see over the top of the mug.

"I thought you'd like some. I added some sweetener for a little more flavor." Carmelita nodded, lifting her head completely from Artemis's shoulder to gingerly take the cup into her own hands.

"Thank you." She deeply inhaled the steam emitting from the surface of the warm drink. She brought the cup to rest on her lips.

"Be careful, it's hot." Carmelita sipped it cautiously, though she really liked it, it was very hot, just as Artemis had said.

"I'm sorry I'm acting like such a baby…but, I feel like it's my fault that…" She couldn't finish the thought. She didn't need to. Artemis shook her head sternly.

"It's not your fault, and you're not a baby. You love him, so it's only natural to cry if he's in trouble. You know Sly would have done it had it been any one of us, too." She most definitely couldn't argue with that- Sly was one of the greatest people to be friends with, and would always support his friends in any way he could. That was just the type pf guy he was.

"Still…I-I don't think…t-that I-I'll be able to sleep or…a-anything…I…I really miss him." Carmelita sniffed softly before continuing to sip her tea delicately. It was starting to cool now, she could feel it.

"Think about all the good times you've had with him so far. That's what I do when I start missing my folks back home. That way, they're still sorta there with you. It helps you get through it until you see them again. Give it a try, okay?" Artemis smiled warmly at Carmelita. She smiled back with just as much warmth.

"Thanks…I really needed that." Artemis got up and began to walk out the door. When she got about half way across the room, Carmelita suddenly called out,

"Oh, and one more thing before I forget-" Artemis turned to look at her again, only to see the vixen with a dirty grin on her face.

"When we rescue him, remind me to hit him for when he ate my chocolate bar."

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I know the ending of this chapter was a little corny, but at least it beats having her go on and on for twelve pages on a sob story or something, don't it? Stick around!

P.S.- I'm SOOOOO sorry for not updating sooner, but I just moved.


	7. Calling in the Cavalry

Again, I apologize for the wait until I started updating again. None of the waits will be that long, I promise. I want to give a special thanks to Heiduska for accepting my invite to my C2 staff! You rock! Here's the next chapter!

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Penelope leaned back against the work desk a bit, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of a tan-gloved hand. She tossed her yellow, grease covered cloth on the desk before pushing off it and walking over to her toolbox. Just as she was about to pull her drill out, her cell phone began to ring.

She already had a bad feeling about this.

Only the gang, and a few friends in Holland had her phone number, and none of her friends from home had brains enough to actually GET a phone, so it was the gang, whom only called during one of two situations-

Heist Bentley planned without her (which she would beat the crap out of him later for)

or

Something was horribly wrong.

She flipped the top of her phone up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Penelope, it's me." Bentley's unmistakable nasally voice responded over the other side of the phone. There was a sudden urgency in his voice, like he needed help or something. Penelope began twirling a lock of stray blonde hair around her finger, a nervous habit of hers.

"What's up, Bentley?" She returned to leaning her back against the desk, placing her free hand beside her to grip the desk's edge.

"Something's gone horribly wrong. We need you back here ASAP. When's the soonest you can leave?" She stole a glance over at her newly finished navy blue biplane before letting a grin spread across her face despite the dire news.

"I'll see you in twenty minutes."

Click.

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"There's one down." Bentley placed the phone on the hanger, sighing heavily. He looked over at Murray, signaling with his hands to see how his conversation with the Guru was coming along. Murray responded with a thumbs up before replying to something the Guru said.

"I can't really say right now, Master, but something really bad has happened. We need you to come back as soon as you can…half an hour?...Okay, see you then!" He clicked his phone shut, turning to his little turtle friend.

"Half an hour, I presume?" Bentley took off his glasses to polish them up a bit. The hippo nodded as Artemis walked in. Bentley turned to her with a serious and concerned expression evident on his features.

"How's she doing?" Artemis walked over to her purse on the counter and began rummaging through it, a small frown on her face. She grinned as she pulled out her cell phone and put her purse in its original spot.

"She's sad and worried, like the rest of us. I think she's taking it the worst, though." She paused a moment, then let a grin spread on her face.

"All she really said was to remind her to hit him for stealing her chocolate bar." Bentley blinked at her for a moment as though she were a Martian that landed from outer space.

"That was a week ago."

"Yeah, well…she likes chocolate, what more do you want me to tell you?"

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"Aah…the quiet life…it's so good to be back in the US for a while!" Suzuna stretched her arms over her head while she continued to look at pictures from past camping trips.

"Hee hee…I remember this one! Oh, did Artemis put me in a chokehold for taking a picture of THAT…"

Ring!

Ring!

Ring!

"I GOT IT!" Suzuna shouted as she made a beeline for the cordless phone in her room. She grabbed it before anyone else bothered to acknowledge the phone was even ringing.

"Hello?"

"Suzuna, it's me, Artemis." The grin on Suzuna's face was washed away from the seriousness in her voice. Artemis was never this serious before. Come to think of it, she never WAS serious to begin with…

"What's wrong? You're usually all hyper, and bouncy…what's up?"

"Something's happened, Suz, and it ain't good." Suzuna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Something bad happened…and when you're a thief, you don't want to hear anything like that.

"You'll fill me in when I get there, right?"

"You know it. We need you to come back as soon as you possibly can. Do you have any idea when that is?" Suzuna glanced over at the clock. The blood red digital numbers told her it was 11:27 a.m. Her flight was originally scheduled for 2:00, but she could always "hitch a ride" on an earlier flight. That's what thieves do best.

"I'll see you in an hour, two at tops."

"Right, I'll call Nina and tell her, too. See you then, buddy."

With that, Suzuna hung up the phone.

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"EVERYBODY'S GOIN' TO THE PARTY, HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME!" Nina banged her head in the air along with the rhythm of the System of a Down music playing off of her computer, not even caring that her black braids were being thrown all over the place, giving her the ever fashionable "I-just-got-some" look. Her music was so loud, she almost failed to notice her cell phone ringing like crazy in her back pocket…until the vibration kicked in…

"AHHHHH! MY ASS IS VIBRATING! Oh…wait…it's my cell phone." She turned her music off and flipped her cell phone open skillfully with her thumb.

"Konnichiwa, buddy!" This was her normal greeting to Artemis, and, had the circumstances been a bit lighter, she would have responded in like.

"Nina, it's me, Art." Nina froze in place. Artemis was never serious…and she couldn't recall the last time Artemis wasn't high off of sugar. This must mean something really, really, REALLY bad must have happened.

"Okay, you haven't eaten sugar…and you haven't said 'Konnichiwa' back to me…what happened? Something bad?" She began to run her fingers through her braided hair in an attempt to rid herself of the bed head appearance.

"You hit it right on the head. How soon can you get back? The rest of the gang is already on their way." Nina flopped on her bed and picked up her clock radio. The neon green digits told her it was 11:43 a.m. She was originally planning on getting back at around five because of her flight, but she had ways of showing up sooner.

"See you in about an hour an a half, no later!"

"'Kay, see you then."

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"Well, that's everyone." Artemis sighed, clicking the end button on her phone. She never did like that fact that she was the only one here without a flip phone. She shrugged off the thought and dropped her phone back in her purse.

"Wait, what about Panda King and Dimitri? Shouldn't we call them up, too?" Bentley piped up from his computer. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"About the Panda King- he already repaid the Cooper Gang for helping him save his daughter. That, and you know his past with Sly. There's no way the two would cooperate again. And as for Dimitri- he's in jail for a cracked attempt at robbery. I swear, the guy's gotten even worse than when you took him on back in Paris all that time ago…he's real rusty. Anyway, busting him out of jail would take more time than Sly might have, so we can't afford to make a jailbreak for Lizard Man even if he begged." Bentley nodded in affirmation that he understood the new information.

"Agreed. All we can do now is wait for the rest of the gang to show up. In the meantime, I'll start constructing a plan for Sly's jailbreak."

"Uh…Bentley…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what happened the last time you tried planning something without Penelope?" Bentley shuddered at the memory.

"You're right…still…I'll just go over the blueprints again, just to pass the time." Without another word, the rest of the gang went about their business until the others showed up.

"Well, might as well kick back and wait 'till the cavalry comes." Murray said as he ascended the stairs and walked down the hall to his room. Everyone else nodded dully before trying to find something to occupy themselves with…anything to keep their minds off of what horrible things could be happening to Sly.

Nick let out a long, exasperated sigh as he logged onto the internet from the computer in the guest room. He brought up his buddy list to see who was online. Upon seeing that EmberFalcon was also connected to the internet, he decided to IM her just for kicks.

NickDude: How u doin?

EmberFalcon: about as good as u can expect

NickDude: worried?

EmberFalcon: depends on what ur talking about

NickDude: what exactly r u worried about?

EmberFalcon: I'm worried about C…she hasn't gotten out of her room since I went up there.

NickDude: there's more, isn't there?

EmberFalcon: naturally, I'm also worried about S, but C's taking it a lot harder than any of us

NickDude: how so?

EmberFalcon: she won't eat much, won't sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time, won't come out of her room…I'm worried

NickDude: don't be

EmberFalcon: ARE U FG KIDDING ME? HOW CAN I NOT WORRY!

NickDude: things will work out in the end, like u said to C

EmberFalcon: yeah

EmberFalcon: wait, wait, wait u were SPYING?

NickDude: it's a bad habit for ur average civilian, the best one for a thief.

Nick got a little worried when Artemis didn't respond. He tensed a moment, wondering how she would exact her revenge on him.

NickDude: Art…?

EmberFalcon is no longer available for this online session.

WHAM!

Before he could even register what had happened, he was laying on the ground, blinking away stars that were forming in his eyes. Artemis grinned as she dusted her hands off.

"Sneak attacks; they're a bad habit for your average civilian, the best one for a thief."

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I know nothing really happened, but I love making people wait for the big stuff. See ya in the next chapter!


	8. Got any sevens?

Okay, this little number is a brand new breed of genre- angst/humor. I know it may not seem possible, but I have (somehow) made it work…kinda.

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"Jus' tell us where yeh little friends are, yeh damned foo'!" The dingo guard shouted at the imprisoned raccoon thief, who was currently leaning his back cockily against the wall opposite the cell bars, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Why should I, jackass?" Sly snapped back from the shadows of his confinement cell. This pointless argument had started about an hour ago, and at this point, the dingo was a snarling ball of rage, much to the raccoon's amusement.

"'Cause I said so, yeh blabbering idiot, now TELL ME!"

"Oh, so _I'm_ the blabbering idiot? You can't get the location of a pack of thieves from one of its own kind, but _I'm_ the blabbering idiot?" Sly retorted, brushing his knuckles up against his chest a moment before inspecting them carefully.

"Why yeh little-"

"Call me names all you want, buddy. Unless you'll kindly unlock this stupid door and try to knock me senseless, you'll never get it out of me." The dingo laughed maniacally.

"Yeh think I'm tha' stoo-pid?"

"That's debatable, if you ask me."

"STOP IT YEH RETARDED FOOL!"

"It takes one to know one, so I'll take your word for it." The second guard had about all his little pea brain could handle of this juvenile argument, so he simply pulled out his sleep dart gun and fired a green shell into the raccoon's shoulder. Sly's eyes widened in shock at the acute pain that entered unwelcome inside his body.

"OW THAT HURT YOU REJECTED DUMBASS!" Sly shouted as he pulled the dart gingerly out of its puncture wound.

"Heh, heh, heh, jus' wait 'till tha' tranquilizer kicks in. Yeh'll be lef' talkin' to the stars in a minute."

"Hey, meathead number two- I think you forgot to put any tranquilizer in this dart, 'cause I ain't feeling any sleepier or nothing." A quick inspection of his dart gun verified that the dumbass had indeed failed to fill any of the makeshift green shells with any of the stuff that makes you go nighty night time.

"Aww, shit."

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Penelope was the first to arrive at the safehouse. Her biplane had performed splendidly in the air, allowing her to meet up with the gang in no more than twenty minutes, just like she had hypothesized. Her biplane landed on the roof of the safehouse with unusual grace and ease for a plane. Carmelita had volunteered to greet her since Bentley was so enthralled in looking over the blueprints and such of "The Darkness's" hangout.

"Oh! Hey, Carmelita! Glad to see ya again!" Penelope cheered once she'd killed the engine and the propellers stopped rotating. Carmelita smiled welcomingly at her friend.

"Ditto, if only it were under better circumstances, though. Like we usually are…" The vixen's ears drooped at the though she left hanging in the air. Penelope reflected the feelings in the same manner, though she couldn't fully comprehend the situation until she knew more details.

"How bad is the situation?"

"Ask someone stronger willed than me."

"That'll be the day." Carmelita couldn't help but grin at Penelope's compliment. She silently motioned with a wave of her hand for Penelope to follow her inside. Her friend agreed with her request, and trailed behind her into the safehouse without another word. Nick was there to greet them in the living room.

"Why hello there!" He exclaimed with his ghetto-ass impression of Jar Jar Binks. Penelope waved her hello before sweeping her gaze around the room.

"Just hang out for a while- the others aren't even here yet." Nick said, as if to read her thoughts. The mouse nodded her reply and flopped onto the couch lazily. It was good to be home.

Suzuna and Nina showed up simultaneously about twenty minutes later from the same flight, hopping out of the taxi they had taken to get here. Artemis greeted her long distance friends, and almost sisters whole heartedly.

"Suz, Nina, nice to see someone else my age besides ditz over there!" Artemis said jokingly whilst jabbing a thumb in Nick's direction. He was oblivious to it all. Suzuna and Nina laughed at the joke, but then sobered.

"Nice of you to keep the mood light, but how bad is it?" Nina asked in a serious tone. Any evidence of joy or laughter was washed off of Artemis's face faster than soap in the shower.

"It's real bad…we're in some deep shit right about now. Everyone's so tense…" Artemis rubbed her arms in an attempt to stave off the uneasiness swelling up inside her.

"…it's like, no matter how much we try to smile, we can all see through the masks. We're not fooling anybody; we can't even fool ourselves." Suzuna's muscles tensed. For someone as hyper and bouncy as Artemis to say something in such a grave tone…it had to be serious. Nothing was ever taken with such a mature note as this with Artemis unless it was of the utmost serious business.

"We just need to wait for the Guru to show up, and then-" no sooner had she spoken, a glowing purple orb about the size of a beach ball hovered toward Murray as he walked out of the front door to see who had shown up. The orb burst open, and the aged koala bear known only as Guru toppled out with unusual grace, landing on his feet with the support of his walking staff, the purple glowing Moon Stone dangling at its top.

"Hello, Master!" Murray exclaimed excitedly, bowing his head in respect to his teacher. Guru said hello as well, turning to wave at the three girls a few feet away from them.

"Well, scratch that- everyone's here!" Nick finished Artemis's thought, practically pushing the three friends of his toward the door. Once everyone was situated inside the living room, Bentley walked out with all the original blueprints in his arms while adjusting his heavily prescribed spectacles to better view his peers.

"Now, in your guys' absence, things have taken a drastic turn for the worst, which is why we had to call you guys back a little early." He began, laying his papers and such across the table in the middle of the group. Everyone leaned in to see the blueprints and papers he had laid out a little better. Curiosity got the better of Suzuna, so she lifted her gaze from the table to Bentley.

"What happened while we were gone? And how come we haven't seen…" She put the puzzle pieces together in her mind, and her eyes widened in horror.

"…God help us…and him." It didn't take long for the rest of the gang to figure out what and who she was talking about. Bentley then told the entire story of their latest heist without getting into explicit detail, so that Carmelita wouldn't start feeling bad.

Without another word, Penelope and Bentley left to their computer room to start building a game plan while Murray went with Guru to better enhance his Dreamtime abilities, as well as lift some weights. Carmelita, Artemis, Nick, Suzuna, and Nina all went into the basement to practice their Akito and Muay Tai skills a bit more.

When Bentley and Penelope were certain that Carmelita was out of earshot, she turned to him and asked in a grave tone,

"How long do you think he'll hold up?"

"It's difficult to say…"The Darkness" is a ruthless gang that isn't exactly known to hold their own sanity…but whatever the case, it's likely that they will want to torture Sly until he reveals who else was after their loot- "The Darkness" is known mainly for their deep rage and want for revenge over the slightest of attempted or successful heists against them."

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"Yeh got any sev'ns?"

Clank.

Clank.

"Naw, so go fish.

Clank.

Click.

Click.

Clunk.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" The dingo shouted at Sly, who had a cup in one hand, rattling it across the bars loudly.

"I didn't do it." He said innocently.

"I KNOW YEH'RE THE ONE DOIN' IT OVER THERE! STOP IT!"

"Oh yeah? What if I decide I don't wanna?" He challenged smugly. By this time, the dingo was absolutely _furious_.

"So help me, if yeh do it one more time, _jus' one_, I will personally go in there an' kick yer ass!"

Silence.

"See, Brute? Yeh just have t' be firm with prisoners, or they'll-"

Click. Click. Clink. Clank. Clunk.

"Oh, yeh're righ' there, Mac- very overpowerin'."

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	9. Two murders and a Card Game

Hiya! Now that we had that little bit of humor shoved in the story, time to get serious…about as serious as I can get…which isn't much, but, hey! Even I have my mature streak! Sorry I haven't been updating lately- I've been going to camps and such, so I've been out for a while.

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"Well, after much analysis of the blueprints, Penelope and I have come up with and absolutely flawless plan to break Sly out of The Darkness's lair!" Bentley exclaimed as he set up his projector for his usual slideshow of his plan.

"Here's the plan- I'll sneak into the HQ's cellar. From there, I'll proceed to the back and unlock the back entry way into the cellar for Murray, Penelope, and the Guru." The turtle clicked the button on the projector, and the picture swapped to what appeared to be a dark and dreary basement filled with random boxes and other shipping equipment, though throughout the entire space, snake-like trails coiled around the boxes in several areas.

"Simultaneously, Artemis, Nick, and Carmelita will take to the roof and use the skylight window above the chandelier in the main chamber and make their way down to meet us in that room. Stay out of sight until the rest of the gang shows up." Another click from Bentley's remote showed a luxurious hallway with lush blood red carpet that held gold trim, underneath was a pearly white marble floor. Many fine antique paintings and hangings lined the walls clear down as far as the picture allowed one to see.

"It may appear to be a grand hall of some sort, but don't EVER judge a book by its cover. Every three paintings down the wall, there is a tiny camera inserted into the fourth in the line, then the pattern continues down the hall. Fortunately, these cameras have no range of motion; they can only see what's directly ahead of them, and they don't have night vision, so the darkness would make a perfect cloak if need be we had to 'improvise' and be seen. However, those marble tiles are equipped with a sensor that deactivates whenever someone with a shoe print that matches one that is in 'The Darkness' computer file, including the deactivation chip inserted into the soles of each shoe, but is reactivated as soon as the print leaves that tile. We need to procure enough pairs of these shoes to go around for the team, and an extra for Sly, just in case we need to take that route back." A third click from the remote replaced that photo with one of the downstairs chambers, which, much to Bentley's and Murray's horror, resembled the Contessa's torture chambers in Prague; aged, warped brick lined the walls, and several rusty cells with thick iron bars lined either wall almost symmetrically, as if painted in some sick and twisted picture.

"This…this is the place where we can easily surmise that…that Sly's being…kept…prisoner." Bentley's wavering, nervous voice managed to issue forth. The uneasy knot that had been tightening in the pits of everyone's stomachs only grew tighter at the thought of what their friend was being put through.

(Meanwhile…)

What do you mean when you say 'he won't talk'?" Damian asked venomously to the two guards that had been keeping post on Sly's cell. The two said guards shuffled uncomfortably under their boss' glare.

"Err…well, yeh see here, boss- tha' 'coon's real tough inside. He don't crack so easily."

"I would have expected nothing less of a Cooper. Continue," Damian ordered.

"We ev'n threatened to beat 'im up, but he jus' mocked us, he did." The second guard babbled whilst trying with all his power to keep from urinating on the white tiled floor. Damian watched his two employees squirm under his steady gaze, satisfied with the fear that he could so easily inject into his lackeys.

"I see, in that case…" The said wolf slid his hand into the desk drawer stealthily, so smoothly that it went unnoticed by the two sweating guards. They knew perfectly well that when the boss don't finish a sentence like that, he'll be ending something else that's a hell of a lot more important to you than a sentence.

"…why don't I simply take you off the payroll?" Before the two guards could retaliate, or even think to do so, Damian slid a slick silver magnum out from his drawer, where he had been reaching. With unreal accuracy, he simply picked off the first one with one single headshot. Blood splattered the bleach white marble floor in a spray of crimson mist. The guard was dead before he even hit the floor. The second guard managed to take one step toward the wolf, but he abruptly stood and held the gun at point blank range to the dingo's neck. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled the trigger for the second time, letting the bullet lodge itself into the man's esophagus- an almost instantaneous death.

With the two corpses sprawled on the white marble floor, crumpled in a pool of their own blood, Damian curtly sat down at his desk again. He set his prize gun down and skillfully flicked out his cell phone from his breast pocket.

"Rodgers, have a janitor clean up in my study- Tony and Mike got…relieved of their duties."

(Back at the Safehouse…)

"Got any sevens, Murray?"

"Go fish. Your turn, Nina."

"Nick, you got any threes?"

"Damn you!"

"Ha, ha, ha! Suzuna, you got any-"

"No."

"But-"

"I don't have any fives. That's the third time you've asked. No."

"…Damn."

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You all knew I was going to end it on a funny note, weren't you? Am I that obvious? Most likely…

Sly: -opens mouth-

Me: If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all

Sly: -closes mouth-

Me: Grr…


	10. Bloodstained Badge

Okay, now that the two retarded guards are out of commission, things are gonna get serious…and this is where some more angst comes in. Read and find out!

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"Penelope, how much farther do we have to go?"

"According to GPS I installed on the van, we're nearing the HQ now…just about 10 miles further, and we're in business, Murray." Penelope answered from the back of the van after taking a moment to read the tiny GPS screen before her. Murray glanced down at the speedometer and noted that he was going 60 miles an hour. They'd be there in about ten minutes. He could live with that (never thought Murray would know math so good, eh?). Nick turned his head to look back at the others from the passenger's seat.

"Omega, you guys know what to do during the operation, right?" Carmelita and Artemis both nodded their heads, not bothering to look up from instant messaging each other. They could be talking, sure, but they were having a VERY private conversation, so it would be of their best benefit that no one else hears them.

"You forgot recon, Nick. In recon, we're ALPHA, not OMEGA. Omega is during the operation." Artemis pointed out as she typed furiously on her laptop.

_EmberFalcon: My god, Nick is such a dumbass sometimes._

Carmelita almost failed to suppress a giggle. Bentley flicked his glance over at the two girls for a moment but said nothing, and returned to reading a book he had brought along for the road trip.

_Foxy223: LOL maybe that's why you like him!_

_EmberFalcon: T-T dude…not cool_

_Foxy223: You know you do. Don't be denying it!_

_EmberFalcon: let's move on to another subject _

_Foxy223: Aww, but it's fun to pick on you!_

_EmberFalcon: new subject_

_Foxy223: You know, I bet if you asked him out or something…_

_EmberFalcon: new subject_

"What the hell are you two doing?" Bentley's nasally voice broke the two friends out of their digital conversation. Both waved him off by saying that Artemis was checking her e-mail and Carmelita was making a Google search on different pocky recipes. The turtle shook his head and returned to his book again. He could have all the knowledge he could fit into his abnormally sized cranium, and still never understand girls.

_Foxy223: why is Bentley such a stiff?_

_EmberFalcon: because he doesn't understand the female population_

_Foxy223: and that's different from any other guy in the universe…how?_

_EmberFalcon: he gets pissed when he doesn't understand something. Let him be pissed, at least we understand something he doesn't._

_Foxy223: true, true, very true._

"WILL YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT ME?" Bentley had finally erupted from his corner of the back of the van. Artemis and Carmelita were thrown into a hysterical fit of laughter at the flustered turtle's blood red face and he fumed at their childish nature.

"Do you honestly think you're fooling anyone? You're making fun of me again! Look, it's not MY fault I'm so short, but-"

"Wha…oh, no, no, no Bentley- we weren't making fun of that. Look at the screen," Carmelita quickly said, ushering Bentley over to Artemis's laptop. His beady black eyes scrolled down the instant message box, and there was a moment of silence that ensued.

"Oh…never mind then…" Bentley muttered as he reached for his book. Retrieving the desired item and settling himself back into his comfortable sitting position, he looked back up at Artemis for a moment. They blinked at each other for a moment, almost as if challenging each other to say something. Bentley looked like he wanted to ask Artemis something but feared her Akito skills, and Artemis looked irritated at the fact that he was looking at her like he wanted to ask her something but wouldn't because he feared her Akito skills. It was Bentley who finally voiced what had been nagging at him since he read the instant message box.

"By the way…why _haven't_ you asked him out yet?"

(Meanwhile…)

Damian had to admit, Cooper was indeed a complex character, indeed.

From the moment the ringtail had attempted to clock him in the jaw (and nearly succeeded, but he wasn't about to mention _that_ to anyone), the wolf came to realize that Cooper was most definitely one that wouldn't crack under pressure, no matter how heavy it was being laid on him. Damian's pearly white fangs poked out from the crease of his lips in a dark grin. If Cooper wasn't going to crack easily, then at least he wouldn't be spoiling the wolf's fun. His attention turned to adjusting his eyes to the darkness of the basement as the stainless steel doors of the elevator parted in front of him. The rectangle of light that sluggishly spilt out from the elevator's inside streamed across Sly's features. Though he was in his early twenties, the young raccoon appeared older from lack of sleep. Ever since the guards that were keeping watch over him were "excused of their duties," he had been so hell bent on staying awake; he was hesitant to even blink for longer than half a second.

Sly had quickly realized that Damian wasn't just some ordinary mad villain like so many he and his gang had encountered in the years previous. Those other villains that others had called "insane" appeared to be normal compared to this one lone wolf. In the raccoon's opinion, if you looked up the word "insane" in the dictionary, Damian's mug shot would be right next to the word's definition. And with the Cooper cane in that lunatic's possession…imagine what he was capable of. Recently, it had been Damian himself that had visited Cooper's cell, always bringing the Cooper cane with him, as if to tease the raccoon with his own family heirloom. Though Damian had failed to bring any guards with him during any of his trips to the cellar, it was clear to Sly that Damian was quite capable without them. About four days ago, he had managed to nab the keys to his cell off Damian, but the pickpocket job didn't go unnoticed by the wolf, who whipped around and clocked Sly in the jaw with his very own cane. Absentmindedly, he gingerly rubbed his fingers along the bluish-purple line that trailed from the right side of his jaw diagonally to just below his right eye. Now that he'd experienced the excruciating pain of the golden jagged hook on the end of his family cane, he almost felt bad for all the thugs he knocked unconscious over the years.

"Still awake, Cooper? How long do you intend to stay alert when your senses are screaming for rest?" Damian sneered at the exhausted thief. Though Sly was perfectly capable of speech at the moment, he resorted to his ancestor Slaii Cooper's teaching of, "should you have to face your foe eye to eye, don't let him see your weaknesses" and remained stone silent, his blank stare starting to visibly unnerve Damian. When the raccoon had given no vocal reply and an unreadable stare, it had thrown the wolf off balance for a moment. Cooper was stronger than he had anticipated, even managing to make him uncomfortable by so much as being in the thief's presence. There were very few things that could make Damian uncomfortable, and the fact that Sly was doing just that was unnerving the wolf even more. He couldn't have such hesitations when he was carrying out such huge operations.

"So, you won't answer to me like a civil person, eh?"

"I answer like a civilized person _to_ a civilized person, not some fucked up douche that's got me locked up in his basement like some damn maniac. But I should apologize for the insult, I was mistaken. You're not a fucked up douche."

"I'm glad that you've-"

"You're a _maniacal_ fucked up douche. My mistake,"

"Damn you, Cooper- if you weren't behind those metal bars-!"

"Yeah, about those; if you really want to take a crack at me, go ahead and unlock this door that has all these bars on it. Go ahead, really- I don't mind."

"One of these days, my friend-" Damian was cut short as one of the lower guards- a kangaroo- emerged from the elevator his boss had used moments ago to enter the basement. Unlike the calm demeanor of the wolf, the guard appeared flustered and timid under his employer's glare.

"Tony, this had better be important."

"That it is, sir- we just caught us a thief- a lady one- but we had to kill 'er."

"Was she connected with the Cooper Gang?" The wolf boss asked, unaware of the breath that Sly was holding, his already frayed nerves becoming even more distorted at the thought that it could be someone close to him…like…like…

"We're not for sure, but we did find this on her…" The kangaroo pulled out what appeared to be something wrapped up in a brown tattered cloth. Sly waited with baited breath as the guard unwrapped the object. His heart gave a painful lurch before shattering like glass.

It was Carmelita's old Interpol ID, her beautiful photo stained with droplets of blood, along with her now broken Interpol shock pistol.

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Don't freak out on me yet, alright? Everything will be explained, and for those who are familiar with the series will know how I love to throw twists into the plot. Please review- all these hits and only a handful of reviews is no fair. I don't know what you guys are thinking if you don't talk to me! Pretty please review!


	11. Psyche!

So busy…so fried…now, where were we? Oh, here we go! Sorry for the long wait! Here's the next chappie!

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"C-Carmelita…" The raccoon almost didn't register his voice whispering his girlfriend's name, shocked that it was so hard to find it in the first place. His heart was trying desperately to tell Sly that it wasn't his Carmelita, that it must be someone else with the same name, but no matter how much he tried to tell himself, his eyes never left the photo ID that he hadn't until just now realized was thrown to his feet. It was her face, it was _her_. His eyes traced over her smiling, bloodstained headshot slowly, as if trying to find something that didn't match his Carmelita, something that stood out.

There was nothing.

It was her; the whole photo practically screamed her name; her deep brown eyes so full of dedication and persistence, her dark raven tresses he grew so accustomed to running his fingers through, her dark red lipstick that he knew had been her favorite shade for years, her Interpol choker necklace…

It was her.

He hung his head low in acceptance, in defeat. He couldn't deny what was in front of his eyes anymore. One of the guards had spotted Carmelita, and picked her off for no other reason than she wasn't supposed to be there, that she was a nobody. But they were wrong. She was a wonderful woman with many friends and was loved by a lot of people, including him. She was a strong-willed, intelligent, beautiful individual that was unafraid of life, ready to live it to its fullest. She was Carmelita…she _was_…

"Aah, so you know this lovely vixen? Or rather…you _knew_ her?" Damian's smug voice broke Sly's train of thought, causing him to look up at the wolf, whom was currently twirling Carmelita's old Interpol shock pistol on his finger like some demented and mildly retarded cowboy.

That had pushed Sly too far.

It was one thing to dishonor his family's cane, but to insult Carmelita on top of that made something inside Sly just finally snap.

"Shut up…just _shut the hell up, you fucking demented prick!_" Sly roared, hardly acknowledging that the voice that had just erupted from his throat was his own. Damian looked at the snarling raccoon with an amused twinkle in his cold grey eyes. For the first time in his life since his father died, he felt helpless. Carmelita was dead, his friends were most likely being hunted down by Damian's men, and it was all his fault for being to reckless back in that mob fight, thinking he could take on so many guards on his own. Because of his stupidity, he was paying the ultimate price. He hung his head in defeat, closing his eyes lightly as his tears finally penetrated through his eyelashes and cascaded down his face. He was thankful that Damian couldn't see past the brim on his favorite blue cap; he wouldn't give Damian that satisfaction he so desperately craved for. He wouldn't show how broken he was inside, he refused to.

(…Meanwhile…)

"Oh my god! Where is it? Where the hell did I put it?" Carmelita was in an absolute frenzy as she started to dig around in her bag for what she had lost.

"What are you looking for?" Suzuna's sudden question broke Carmelita's train of thought as she turned in the direction of her voice. Suzuna was propped up against the side frame of the van, arms folded over her chest, an amused look on her features. Carmelita laughed nervously in response, scratching the back of her head as she felt a sweat drop find its way on her head (anime style). Now she just plain felt retarded that she was actually _caught_ looking like a retard searching in her bag.

"Err…well…heh heh…I was just looking for my old ID and my shock pistol…but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I lost them back in that huge mob we were fighting in, the one Bentley told you about?" Suzuna nodded, but then sobered when a sudden thought struck her.

"Hey, is your shock pistol still operative? If it is…"

"Ah, don't worry about it; Interpol makes sure that when you quit, your electrical weapons are shut down permanently with your ID number, so those two things are pretty much useless to anyone, now." Suzuna nodded her head in relief before peeking past Murray's shoulder at the windshield in time to see "The Darkness" HQ begin to appear over the horizon. Her shoulder muscles tensed in anticipation of the upcoming heist/bad guy ass kicking melee/rescue mission that was just around the corner.

(...Meanwhile...)

That retarded raccoon actually fell for it.

That thought alone made Damian almost giddy inside. He had finally found one of Cooper's weaknesses, and was able to play off of it almost perfectly! It was so incredibly easy to plot the idea in his mind when he himself appeared after the mob fight in the treasure room and spotted the unconscious thief, battered and bruised, gasping for air. Shortly after they stored the raccoon in the cellar, one of his guards came to him days ago and presented the ID and deactivated shock pistol that, according to the guard, was found very near the Cooper Cane that Damian was after. It meant, in the wolf's mind, that there was a chance that the woman depicted in the photo and Sly Cooper were somehow connected; he knew that there was no one with that face under his employment, and finding it at the scene of the mob fight was no accident, that much was certain to Damian. To test his theory, he simply added a few droplets of fake blood to the woman's ID and handed it, along with the shock pistol to another guard, and asked him to bring it to the cellar when Damian was down there, and to mention finding it on a woman they had killed that was trying to break into the HQ. His plan couldn't have worked better, and he could only hope that the raccoon was that much closer to finally breaking down and revealing his hideout to the wolf himself. If not, there were other ways to find out...

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Again, so sorry for the long wait (and my extended thanks to Heiduska for reviewing for the entire trilogy, you rock!) and I'll do my best to update ASAP. Until then, read and review, please!


	12. The Bonds of Friendship

AAH! I'm so sorry for the delay! I had such a bad case of writer's block when it came to this story! But I'm back, so here's the next chappie!

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Three days have passed since he had convinced Cooper that his girlfriend was dead.

Three days should have been enough.

That thought alone drew the wolf back to the stainless steel elevator, coaxed him to press the button that led the said machinery to the basement, pulled him toward the cell keeping the raccoon thief in confinement. That simple assumption that had formed in Damian's mind seemed sufficient enough reason to re-interrogate their prisoner on the whereabouts of Otto Van Cooper's possessions, as well as the location of his friends, which the wolf had assumed was basically within the same vicinity. He couldn't find any other reason that the raccoon would conceal such information any longer; he believed his girlfriend to be dead, and it had been implied that his friends were being hunted down, so with those two things obliterated from his life, what else was left? Even as his sharp eyes distinguished the broken master thief sitting back against the opposite wall of him, he could find nothing.

"Cooper, we need to have a little…chat." Damian's suave voice cut through the echoing silence of the dark chambers within the basement, pulling Sly out of his depressing and agonized thoughts. Though he hardly showed it, Sly made it somewhat clear that he had acknowledged his warden's presence, not even daring to look up at the cane he knew that Damian was wielding…Sly's own father's cane, passed on to him, now in the clutches of that madman. A thought that still sent the hairs on Sly's neck vertical with fury, thinking of such a disgraceful image.

"I understand that the woman killed recently was close to you, as are your comrades, which my men are still hunting down. I also am under the assumption that you are fully aware that there is no other option for you than death. With such a grim conclusion that both you and I know is inevitable, what is the sense of taking the location of your friends and Otto Van Cooper's treasure to your grave? Wouldn't it just be easier to accept death with your friends at your side when you cross over? Sure, your girlfriend will be there, but-"

"Shut up. I ain't telling you a damn thing." Sly's gruff reply cut the wolf off from his ramblings on the afterlife he had sent many to.

"Surely-"

"Not a damn thing."

"Why won't you reason with the facts?" The thief's warden growled through clenched teeth. Any smoothness in the wolf's voice was drowned out by the frustration at how hardheaded the captured thief was being. "You know there's nothing left of your friends, your gang, your life, so why must you insist on protecting something that is no longer among the world of the living? Why fight a battle in vain and ignorance?" Sly's soft, sad chuckle broke Damian's ramblings before he answered in a clear and resonating tone,

"When my gang and I had first infiltrated this base, I had asked all my friends that were out in the field with me to take a Thief's Oath, that should anything happen to me, they just keep going on without me and finish the mission. When I stayed behind to fight off your guards, they wanted to come back for me, but I had reminded them of their promise. They left just as I had asked of them, not because I had made them swear under Thief's Oath, for that is easily avoided and danced around, but because they trusted me enough to know everything would work out in the end, because we're all friends, basically family. It's that certain bond that made them keep their promise, and it is that same bond that keeps me faithful to my gang. Even if none of them survive, the little comfort I can cling to is that I had tried everything within my ability at the time to keep them protected, to watch their backs as we had all done for each other. Because I am faithful to my friends, alive or not, you won't get a single word out of me." Never in his life had Damian been filled with more rage and hatred toward someone or something, than he was at that moment. Never had he been filled with a burning fire that craved a man's blood that burned so intensely than right then and there. His right hand twitched furiously with the desire to whip out his prize silver magnum and lodge one of its bullets into the thief's skull, to end this man's very life right now, but didn't mainly because he still needed information out of this raccoon, which was the only reason he hadn't fulfilled his desire for the thief's death already.

Before Damian could reply, a loud and resonating _THUD _was heard above the two occupying the space. The unwelcome sound was followed by an even louder ringing of an alarm droning through the two males' ears, the high pitch scream rising and falling in pitch like a sharp trombone was put behind a megaphone.

The wolf growled, knowing full well that the only times that this particular alarm went off was when thieves were among them.

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Whew…I'm over my writer's block…soooo happy! –Does happy dance- Stick around, pretty, pretty, pretty please!!! Love ya!


	13. Uninspired to think of a title

Gyaaa! Too much homework! That's why I haven't updated. That, and I will admit, I've had serious writer's block with this particular story. The fact that no one seemed to mind that I hadn't updated this fic didn't really help motivate me, either. Well, I'm back, so to those of you who wish I would disappear…I won't. Heh…here ya go.

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"What in the hell…?" Any trace of Damian's calm demeanor dissolved into what looked like a snarling ball of rage to Sly as he watched the wolf pound on the numbers on his cell phone with a fury that vaguely reminded the raccoon thief of the time that Bentley's computer got a virus and he threw a fit for days until he found a fix for it. "What is going on?...WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS A BREAK-IN?...WELL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE FOR? STOP THE INTRUDERS!" With an irritated flick of Damian's wrist, the phone was flipped shut. Another flick sent it into the inner breast pocket of the wolf's jacket. He spun on his heel to march toward the elevator, pausing only to throw a cold glare over his shoulder at the –now smirking- raccoon. They both knew perfectly well who broke into the headquarters without needing to even look at the method of entry or what they were after. The only people with a motive to break into the headquarters: The Cooper Gang. "This means nothing. You and your little friends will fall under my power." With those last words, Damian continued to the elevator he came from. Once that it was only Sly that inhabited the cell, his grin faded into nothingness at the thought that, though his friends were more than capable of pulling off a heist without him (though that thought irked him a bit,) how were they supposed to know where he was, or even if he was alive? He could only hope that Bentley's computer prowess would come through as it had so many times in the past. Although…he wasn't entirely sure that there would be any digital trace of him here to even begin with.

"Hey, Sly! Over here!" Wait…no…no, that couldn't be right. He was hearing things…but…her voice was so…real…but Damian said that she was dead! He even threw him her old ID and shock pistol! "Sly, I'm over here, you dumbass."

Then again, she always was so _very_ blunt.

"Carmelita…?" It was her. There was no denying it. There she stood on the other side of the bars from him, her adorable grin plastered on her face. He tried to return the expression, mainly out of relief that she was alright, but the bruise that ran diagonally across his face reminded him that it was there with every tug of his skin. His girlfriend's grin dissolved into a concerned frown as she rummaged in the dark with the key that she had managed to swipe out of Damian's desk drawer after the wolf had left his office. It had been a pain in the ass to shadow him to the basement, but well worth it in the end.

"What the hell did that sick bastard do to you?" The vixen whispered as the cell's key turned inside the lock with a solid click. The barred door opened with an echoing creek of rusty metal hinges, and Sly staggered out of that damned cell, thankful to finally be free of that prison.

"Not that much physically…but he told me that you had died, and that you had been killed. He had your shock pistol and your ID had blood on it…and I-" To stop him from rambling on in his frenzy, she shushed him with a gloved finger to his lips. Her gentle smile was more than enough to soothe his doubts and uncertainties, easing him into that lax state that he was always in when he was with her.

"I'm here, in the flesh (and fur, but so are you) so forget any demented things he told you; we all came to rescue you and put an end to this gang's madness and that is all there is to it, alright?" For lack of something intelligent to say, he nodded his head dumbly. "Good, now let's meet up with the others and settle things once and for all."

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It's not much of an offering, and it is a rather pathetic attempt considering how long I've been away from the Sly Cooper section of FanFiction, but I don't exactly feel too welcome in that area of the website anymore, aside from a few friendly reviews. But I'll still finish this story, and then…we'll see.


	14. Carmelita strikes back

Okay, I said the updates were going to be more frequent, and so they will be! Here's the next chapter (warning: some slightly humorous parts and the chapter is kinda on the long side, so grab a bag of popcorn), and I'm basically throwing the ending ALL in this chapter, seeing as how I know after so many chapters, a story can lose its touch, so this chapter will be considerably longer than the others, but I will add an epilogue chapter to this. Enjoy! (Oh, and some serious Nick bashing because he's totally getting on my last nerves, and he made fun of me when I told him that my boyfriend broke up with me)

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When Carmelita had said that it would be difficult to get back to the rendezvous point with the other would be difficult, Sly found that she was putting it…lightly.

No sooner than they had escaped the basement chambers, they were confronted with a seemingly endless wave of guards that had been near where the entrance and exit of the basement had been, proving to the two thieves that there was no easy way out of this without a fight, and a rough one at that. Thankfully, Sly was an able fighter even without the Cooper Cane as a weapon.

"You know, why is it that the guards are always a pain in the ass?" Sly mumbled mostly to himself as he raised his fists for combat. "I swear that they were only hired to be stupid and look tough." Carmelita laughed under her breath slightly as she tensed for the fight. The guards were closing in on them, surrounding the pair of thieves in a circle that was steadily shrinking around them.

"Well, I guess you'd be right, otherwise they'd have gotten better jobs, eh?"

"Nevertheless, looks like we have to fight 'em…again." Just as one of the larger guards raised his fists to begin the fight, well…

"THUNDER FLOP!!!"

…need I say more?

Yes, it was none other than "The Murray" that had let out the guttural roar before slamming down on the unsuspecting mob of enemies, the impact knocking at least half of the guards unconscious or reeling a few feet back in shock.

"Damn, Murray did you have to shout that directly in my ears?" Carmelita mumbled as she massaged the clay red fur covered appendage delicately to rid it of the ringing that Murray's voice left behind.

"Oh…heh, sorry about that, Carm-SLYOMIGODYOU'REOKAYTHAT'SAWESOME!!!!!" The poor raccoon and fox weren't entirely sure of what just blurted out of their hippo friend's mouth, but they didn't have time to ponder over it for very long, considering that the other guards that were still conscious seemed rather pissed at our oversized hippo friend for knocking out or injuring so many of their buddies. The three thieves formed a triangle, back-to-back-to-back in anticipation for the rumble…

…until they saw a tiny blinking red object drop in front of their feet.

"Guys, that's Bentley's new stun grenade! MOVE!" Murray roared as he ushered his two comrades away with a powerful sweep of his arm before following closely on their heels. The guards weren't so fortunate, for the grenade went off in a spectacular flash of brilliant white light. The three thieves covered their eyes from the flash as they ducked out of the hallway. Bentley stood before them, a triumphant smirk evident on his tiny turtle face.

"So, I see that you've witnessed the power of my newly upgraded stun grenade in action!" He chuckled, putting away the stash of grenades he had left at his disposal in an attempt to rid himself of any temptation to overuse the marvelous weapon of moderate destruction. "Now, Penelope and the others are already waiting in the van for the getaway, so I suggest that we get there so we can…get…away…?" The sirens that had been blaring in their ears had suddenly came to a stop. The shuffling of the feet of guards searching for them seemed to fade into a hushed quiet. Everything…stopped. The silence that surrounded the four came so suddenly, and yet weighed down on them immensely. The air was suddenly stagnant and heavy, a sense of urgency and suspense surrounded the group. With a simultaneous nod of agreement, the four began to make their way back to the van, Bentley basically leading because he was the only one who knew where they hid the van (I know, it's a first that Murray doesn't know where his baby is but bear with me).

"Bentley, where exactly _is_ the van?" Carmelita hissed, careful not to alert anyone of their presence. He regarded her a moment, before pulling out his binocucom and flicking the screen on. The intel screen blipped into view, showing four blue dots all huddled together in a diamond on a flat layout of the HQ they were in. "Those four dots are us…" He tapped a finger lightly on the screen at the four blue dots before dragging his finger up the screen more toward the outside of the building at a larger green dot that wasn't far away from the wall they were closest to just ahead of them. "…And that's the van. If we keep heading to the end of the hallway from here, there's a door that'll lead right to where I brought the van over to." He hissed back, clicking the binocucom shut and tucking it safely back into his shell. The others nodded in agreement before they continued to sneak over to the end of the said hallway.

Just as they could see the door that Bentley had mentioned before, the sirens blared again, seemingly more fiercely than before (or that could have been due to the fact that they were right next to the sound system) It only blared about three times before the sound of crunching metal and static was heard, followed by the siren slowly fading into silence once more. Everyone turned and eyed Murray skeptically.

"What? I didn't do it! See, the system's still in one piece!" The hippo defended, pointing to the siren control system, which was, as Murray had pointed out, still perfectly in tact.

"He didn't do it. I did." The four friends whirled around at the sound of Damian's voice behind them. There the wolf stood, mere yards away from them, a broken remote siren control clutched in his left paw, the Cooper Cane in his right. "So, this is the Cooper Gang that I have dreaded for so long? A pathetic hippo, a midget turtle, and a fox whor-"

_That did it!_

Before anyone in the hallway could comprehend what Damian had said, Sly had charged forward and delivered a solid punch to the arrogant wolf's jaw. The hit sent Damian reeling back in shock, giving Sly the opening to deal another blow to his stomach. While the wolf was still stunned, the raccoon thief took the opportunity to rip the Cooper Cane from his grasp and jabbed the blunt end into Damian's side.

"Don't you ever…_ever_…insult my friends again, you hear me?" Sly growled deep in his chest, tipping his cane to rest on his shoulder as he watched the wolf stumble to regain his composure. Wiping his mouth free of a jagged crimson streak of blood that slipped from his lips to his chin with the back of his hand, Damian growled under his breath a moment before a dark grin took over his features. He straightened his back as he adjusted his black suit jacket a bit, his eyes never leaving the raccoon thief before him.

"Impressive, Cooper…I underestimated you." The maniacal wolf chuckled under his breath. Sly tensed his muscles in anticipation for the fight. Murray, sensing that there was going to be a rumble (because his superpower is that his muscle senses start tingling when there's a fight), stepped up to assist his friend, cracking his knuckles within his closed fists. The hippo was rather surprised when Sly held out his arm to keep him from advancing.

"It wouldn't be right to gang up on him. No matter how low of a bastard this guy is, I won't let myself or anyone else around me for that matter, stoop to his level." Murray nodded, backing down to the sidelines. Sly's attention returned to the wolf, who had started laughing maniacally at the raccoon thief's declaration.

"You think this is about dignity, about honor? You think that I personally care about respect and reputation? I think not," Damian reached into his jacket and stylishly flicked out his silver magnum gun. Carmelita's eyes grew wide in horror as Damian aimed right for Sly's head.

"HYAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Wha…? Ack-!" All anyone saw was a flash of green streak across the air above Damian's head before the wolf collapsed unconscious. At first, no one was sure what had happened, but, sure enough, Bentley's shell rolled skillfully on its side toward the three thieves before his head and limbs popped out of their respectful holes.

"Sorry if I blew the perfect opportunity for a good fighting scene, but he had a gun, it was pointed at my friend, and I wasn't going to sit there with my thumb up my ass while he shot one of my best buds." The brainy turtle said while brushing off some of the dust and dirt that had gotten on his spiffy shell. "Let's get outta here; Czech police are closing in on this location." With a nod in agreement from everyone, the four continued toward the door before Damian decided to wake up again.

"Here we are!" Bentley breathed in relief as he pulled the door open from the handle (with a little help from a nearby cardboard box) and the four thieves were welcomed with a breath of the fresh night air. "Come on, let's hurry and get outta here. I can see the police chopper over there. En route to this damned headquarters, no doubt." Without another word, everyone piled in the van as Murray revved up the van's engine. Of course, Sly was dog piled by everyone in the van the moment he hopped in the back after Carmelita, but that was basically expected.

"Ack…come on guys…guh…can't breathe…-gasp-…" Sly breathed from the bottom of the pile of bodies that had assaulted him. Even the Guru forgot his 'peacefulness and calm' and topped the group of friends in glee. After a few moments, Sly's friends decided to spare him death by suffocation, and therefore let him up. "Phew, thanks for letting me breathe again. But, I can't help but ask…why'd you guys come back? I mean, it's not that I'm not glad that I'm outta that hellhole, but you guys swore under Thief's Oath to leave." Bentley rolled his eyes behind his thick lenses.

"We didn't technically go against it…it's more or less of a guideline. And besides, we had our fingers crossed." Bentley stated matter-of-factly as he crossed his arms in the 'whatever-I-say-is-right-and-that's-that' manner that he was so very infamous for. Sly chuckled and agreed that it was very much true before turning to the vixen of the group.

"So, miss me?" He pecked her lips as his arm went around her waist. She leaned against his muscular shoulder in though before answering.

"…Do you really need me to answer that?" When Sly shook his head, Carmelita smiled before closing her eyes sleepily. "Good, oh, and there's one more thing before I forget…" She lifted her hand a moment as if to look at her watch, then suddenly took a cheap shot punch to Sly's stomach, which left the poor man gasping for air.

"What the hell was that for…?" He wheezed as he placed a hand on his stomach over the sensitive spot she hit.

"You ate my chocolate bar."

"That was a week ago!"

"You don't eat the chocolate bar that belongs to a girl on her period."

"But…it was a week ago!"

"And it was my chocolate. I win."

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ta-da! Only one more chappie to go (the epilogue) and then I'm moving on to my next project. But I need some ideas. If you have any, please don't hesitate to ask (I take any and all requests!)


	15. Epilogue

Okay, I know it took a while, but here we are, at the end of the fic (it's been way too long, if you ask me -.-" but at least this is the last chapter) that's not saying that I won't continue Sly Cooper FanFiction, but I have about three other stories in other areas I'm working on that anyone is free to look at (just go to my profile page, but I'm sure you knew that already). Once those are out of the way (or close to it) I'll definitely start up with Sly Cooper again (because it's just too awesome of a game series to ignore).

Okay, I'm babbling waaaaaay too much, so let's move on, shall we?

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_"Hello out there! This is Dora Myers from channel twelve news, bringing you the latest in breaking news and updates from Monaco, France! Today in sports, we'll discuss the worldwide known superbowl prank pulled this year and how well the college basketball teams have been fairing in comparison to the NBA. But in other news, our top story headline for today was the arrest of Czechian Underworld crime lord Damian Medora, who has been charged with twelve accounts of arson, seven accounts of possession of a controlled substance, nine accounts of grand larceny, thirteen accounts of murder in the first degree, and over twenty accounts of resisting arrest and escaping police charges . The Czech police have assured channel twelve news reporters that the crime lord has been reprimanded and sentenced to death. And now, the local weather forecast-"_

Click.

"_Brad…the baby that I carry…is yours."_

Click.

"_Here's the wind-up…and the pitch…IT'S A HOMERUN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"_

Click.

"_Humankind cannot gain something without first giving something up in exchange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."_

Click.

"Damn it, Murray, will you cut that out? It's hard enough to concentrate when you're clicking at that damn remote every three seconds!" Bentley finally said after thirty minutes of Murray's non-stop flipping through channels in a vain attempt to find something good on to watch.

"Ooh…anime porn…"

Hmm…seems Murray didn't hear a word of what Bentley said.

With a groan of frustration, the turtle turned back to his download of the bootleg copy of _300_ he had managed to find in the internet just as the Spartan army began to run into the oncoming onslaught of arrows that nearly blotted out the sun.

"DUDE, MURRAY WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?"

So much for enjoying a quality blockbuster hit in the comfort of his own home.

"Nick, calmly walk away from the living room. Don't bother coming back for another hour, at the very least-"

"_Mmm…oh, ohhhhh, OH-!"_

"You know, on second thought, wait for me!" Not even waiting to stop the movie on his computer that he was TRYING to enjoy, Bentley waddled as quickly from the living room as he possibly could, dragging a confused Nick behind him. "Phew, at least we won't have to worry about Murray for a while (I assume he'll be a bit…_occupied_…for a little bit). In the meantime- hey…where are the others?" Nick shrugged as he opened the refrigerator, taking out the last one of Art's mint mocha Frappuchinos. He raised one finger pointedly, as if to count something off.

"Sly said he was taking Carm out somewhere," Nick added another finger to the first. "Guru's in the dojo meditating," Another finger. "Penelope's in the garage upgrading her biplane for reasons God only knows, and…" Just as he was about to add another finger to represent the last member of the Cooper Gang, the poor guy was clocked in the head with a well aimed –and rather heavy- paperweight, sending him sprawling to the floor. Bentley blinked in surprise as Artemis walked in calmly, picking up the glass bottle of deliciously cold coffee from the counter where Nick had placed it.

"I'm just walking in here to reclaim the last of the mint mocha Frappuchinos before _someone_," She glared pointedly at the boy sitting on the floor. "decided to claim it as their own. But now that that's settled, I'll be going to my room now." As the said teenage girl turned and started heading toward the stairs, Nick sprang to his feet.

"That's not fair! I had it first!"

"If you want it so badly, then you'll have to beat me at Super Smash Brothers Brawl before you can get any!"

"…So…you're asking me to play with your Wii…?"

"…"

"…"

"…Just shut up, you sick perv."

"Whatever, but I still get to be LINK!" Bentley just shook his head at the two teens before going about his business and started heading for the garage to go over…_stuff_ with Penelope…

---

"Sly, where exactly are we going, and _why_, for that matter?" Carmelita huffed as she and Sly walked hand-in-hand aimlessly down the quiet streets of Paris. Instead of replying, the raccoon smirked and tugged her hand toward him, as if asking her to come a little closer (which she had no objections to). For a few long minutes, neither said anything, enjoying the comfortable silence as Carmelita placed her head on Sly's shoulder.

"Do you still have that promise ring that I gave you? You know, the blue one from a year ago?" Sly's voice seemed distant, as if in deep thought as he broke the silence. Carmelita nodded against his shoulder, her fingers intertwining with his as they continued to walk down the street.

"And the locket you gave me a year before that." She added quietly, almost dreamily. Sly's heart warmed at that, so he gripped her hand a little tighter in happiness.

"You remember what I promised, right?" Again, she merely nodded, noticing that he gave her hand a tight squeeze of reassurance, but of what she was uncertain. "And you know that it's the truth, don't you?"

"Of course, silly, but what is this all about?" She mumbled against the fabric covering his shoulder. Sly reached in his coat pocket, the one that was on the opposite side of his girlfriend, pulling out his closed fist, careful to conceal what was inside of it.

"It's about this," He brought his arm over to that his closed fist was in front of her, opening it to reveal a white gold ring with a heart diamond at its center, at either of its sides, were two more smaller circle diamonds that complemented it nicely. Carmelita gasped as Sly's hand tugged on hers so that they stopped walking. "I promised that I would love you, and I still do. I just want to make it official by means of marriage…if you…I mean…gah, I suck at this." Carmelita giggled despite the tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. "I mean that…that I want you to…I mean…will you…will you marry me, despite the lack of a long and sappy speech that I came up with but forgot…?" The vixen at his side laughed under her breath before embracing him, nodding her answer. He grinned before he brought her hand up and slid the ring on her left hand ring finger. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he led her home, as her head returned to his shoulder. Nothing more was said between the two for the entire walk home, and quite frankly, nothing needed to be said for that matter.

"Hey, Sly, when do you think we should tell them? About the engagement, I mean." Carmelita asked as they rounded the corner toward the hideout.

"Why not today? I mean, it's not like they didn't know that I wasn't going to propose to you or anything." She nodded, glad that they didn't have to hide anything from their friends and eager to tell them about the proposal. "Here we are," Sly muttered, opening the door and walking into the hideout. "It seems peaceful enough, so why not tell them now?" Sly asked, noting the quiet in the hideout. Carmelita agreed happily. "It's settled then. I guess they guys and I are gonna have to start-"

"DAMN IT ARTEMIS, GIVE ME A MINUTE TO GET BACK UP!"

"OH PLEASE, IT'S NOT LIKE IT WOULD ACTUALLY _HELP_ YOU ANY AT ALL! YOU SUCK AT THIS GAME!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD SAY THAT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MY FEELINGS!"

…was there any more need of an explanation?

Nick raced down the stairs, sobbing about how it wasn't fair and he should have the frappuchino because he had it first, followed calmly by Artemis, happily sipping at the mint mocha frappuchino that she had so very easily won.

"DAMN IT MURRAY, WILL YOU CUT IT OUT WITH THE ANIME PORN ALREADY?"They heard Bentley's voice screech over the…-ahem- _noises_ they heard coming from the television in the living room. Just when they thought that it couldn't possibly get any more chaotic (or perverted), Penelope walked by with a certain glow on her face, her hair wild and messy, as though she had just got some (and by the looks of things, they wouldn't be shocked if she had), mumbling a hello to them as she giggled almost drunkenly and continued toward the kitchen.

"You know, then again, there always was a time and a place for everything...how about we tell them after dinner…?"

"Yeah…dinner…"

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It's finally finished…-tear- I never thought it would end…-sniff- but I enjoyed writing it so much! –Sob- ah well, please review on the story! Oh, and flames will be laughed at, then used to make ramen noodles, so just don't bother with that.


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